Scottish Executive

Digital Technology

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what efforts it is making to ensure the provision of broadband technology to those areas not covered by the commercial market.

Iain Gray: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27021 on 22 July 2002.

Employment

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms it can employ to ensure that a larger proportion of skilled jobs which are created through job creation initiatives in the City of Glasgow are taken up by people resident within the city.

Iain Gray: Employment is a reserved issue. The primary responsibility for assisting unemployed people into work rests with Jobcentre Plus.

  Notwithstanding these points, a sub-group of the Scottish Welfare to Work Advisory Task Force has recently been considering how to enhance the active management of the network of relevant agencies and intermediaries in Glasgow, with a view to improving the effectiveness of welfare-to-work programmes in the city. The group considers that the issue is one of co-ordination of delivery and plans to set up a Glasgow Welfare to Work Network/Forum in due course.

Family Law

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be represented at the Family Law Reform Congress to be held in London from 10 to 12 September 2002 at which the problems of children of separated parents will come under scrutiny.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive understands that the Family Law Congress will concentrate, in the main, on aspects of family law as it pertains to England and Wales. Family law is a devolved matter. The Executive is considering the relevance of the topics under discussion before deciding whether to send an official.

Housing

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3541 by Ms Margaret Curran on 6 June 2001, whether the outcome of any ballot undertaken prior to any transfer of Scottish Homes properties to other social landlords in the Central Scotland parliamentary region will have any legal standing or impose any binding obligations on any organisation involved in the process.

Ms Margaret Curran: Ballots held by Scottish Homes are not required by statute, but are held as a matter of good practice. Although not binding, transfers will not proceed unless the majority of tenants vote in favour.

Housing

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the Fife Housing Regeneration Initiative has achieved since its formation in 1997 and how much it has spent in each financial year.

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any financial resources allocated to the Fife Housing Regeneration Initiative that were unspent on 31 March 2002 have been allowed to be carried forward into the current financial year.

Hugh Henry: Six million pounds of New Housing Partnership (NHP) funding was earmarked in 1999 for Fife Council's housing regeneration projects in Abbeyview, Lochgelly, Dysart and Buckhaven and Methil. £104,580 NHP grant was paid in 1999-2000 and £433,331 in 2001-02. These resources have allowed the council to undertake a number of activities associated with the transfer process. These include extensive tenant consultation and the provision of independent advice to tenants; the production of a stock condition survey and other technical reports; commissioning an independent valuation and providing project management costs for the development consortia. We are currently discussing with the council the level of resources required to progress the projects in the current financial year.

Local Government

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what response it has made, or plans to make, to the approach from Argyll and Bute Council seeking compensation for the claim made against the council by Kyndal Spirits on Jura for £225,000 as a result of a disruption of local ferry services.

Peter Peacock: Any such claim for compensation is entirely a matter for the council.

Nuclear Power

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to identify solutions to any gap in energy generation if nuclear generation ceases in Scotland.

Iain Gray: The issues of energy generation and security of supply are reserved, and were addressed in the recent Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) report on energy policy to the UK Government. The PIU’s recommendations now form the basis of a UK-wide consultation exercise. The views expressed will be taken into account in a White Paper which the UK Government intends to issue around the turn of the year setting out its approach to future energy policy.

Parental Alienation Syndrome

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has over the reported effects of Parental Alienation Syndrome.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Executive is concerned about the effects on children of acrimonious separations, and provides financial support to various voluntary organisations offering mediation or other help to families in transition. The Executive accepts that children can suffer harmful effects where one or both parents deliberately set out to use the children as a weapon. However, it does not believe that Parental Alienation Syndrome is a sufficiently well defined medical term to make its diagnosis certain or its use appropriate in legislation. The existing law of Scotland can already deal with such behaviour.

Research

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which universities and colleges are active in alternative energy research, broken down by field of research and institution.

Iain Gray: Details of research projects in Higher Education Institutions and Further Education Colleges are not collected centrally by the Scottish Executive. However, the Executive has encouraged the development of the Scottish Research Information System, by Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, Universities Scotland and Scottish Enterprise. This provides a searchable database of research in Scotland at Higher Education Institutions and can be accessed at:

  http://www.scottishresearch.com/.

School Census

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is appropriate to mix ethnic origin and nationality classifications in the School Census September 2002.

Nicol Stephen: The categories to be used for the collection of ethnicity information in the September 2002 School Census were selected to match closely those used in the 2001 Census of Population, to ensure consistency and comparability across different data sources.

  A question on national identity was also included to give respondents the opportunity to express their national identity as well as their ethnic background.

  The national identity and ethnic background categories used in the School Census are subject to review to ensure that they remain relevant and well understood. This will ensure that on-going work at a national level on equality and inclusion issues is reflected in future censuses.

School Census

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is appropriate to include a category for asylum seekers and refugees in the nationality classification in the School Census September 2002.

Nicol Stephen: Information on national identity and ethnic background is being collected in the School Census through the ScotXed project for the first time in September 2002.

  As part of this exercise, it is important to collect information on asylum seekers and refugee children in education in Scotland. This information is required to enable effective policy development and improved planning and delivery of education services for these children and young people.

  The national identity and ethnic background categories used in the School Census are subject to review to ensure that they remain relevant and well understood. This will ensure that on-going work at a national level on equality and inclusion issues is reflected in future censuses.

School Census

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is appropriate to mix colour and ethnic origin in the ethnic background classification in the School Census September 2002.

Nicol Stephen: The categories to be used for the collection of ethnicity information in the September 2002 School Census were selected to match closely those used in the 2001 Census of Population, to ensure consistency and comparability across different data sources.

  The national identity and ethnic background categories used in the School Census are subject to review to ensure that they remain relevant and well understood. This will ensure that on-going work at a national level on equality and inclusion issues is reflected in future censuses.

School Census

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to withdraw the School Census September 2002 in its current form and replace it with a revised framework in line with the principles of a modern and inclusive Scotland.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) has no plans to withdraw the September 2002 School Census in its current form. The format of the School Census is reviewed each year to ensure it remains relevant to the priorities of the Scottish Executive.